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Composer of the Week - Erik Satie (1866-1925) - Le Maitre

Logo for Composer of the Week - Erik Satie (1866-1925) - Le Maitre

By the early 1920s, Satie was the toast of Paris. Having been spotted by the legendary impresario Jean Cocteau, he found himself working with the likes of Picasso and hailed by a new generation as "the Prince Of Musicians". The composer had also invented "furniture music" - designed to work unnoticed as interior decoration, a little like modern muzak. Donald Macleod introduces Satie's momentous last decade, featuring two rare fanfares for trumpet and a song written in memory of the composer's greatest friend and colleague, Claude Debussy. The week ends with Satie's remarkable Entr'acte Cinematographique, the first ever film music to be written frame-by-frame, and a startling precursor of minimalism.